Catch Me Before I Fall
by sparksflyshadow
Summary: Takes place after Season 3. The Governor's dead. Daryl has always kept his distance from the others, but will things change when a new girl joins the group? What is about her that has him showing his softer side? Daryl/OC
1. Chapter 1

This story starts after the end of the third season with a few changes.

Disclaimer: I only my OC.

* * *

The sound of gunfire made me jump up from my afternoon nap. The bright sunlight burned my eyes as I opened them. I grabbed the sunglasses next to me and put them on. Attaching the silencer to my gun, I slowly made my way to the edge of the roof of the pharmacy where I had been hiding. Walkers were everywhere and the gunfire was only making matters worse by attracting more from the nearby streets. There were four of them. A man and a woman who were back to back shooting the walkers that were creeping up on them. If there was ever anyone to put ninjas to shame, it would be the woman in dreadlocks with the scary-looking knife. The last one guy had a crossbow and was shooting these walkers in the head one by one. He was like a real life Green Arrow. No matter how good these guys were at killing walkers, there was no way they could manage all the new ones that coming in from the streets.

As I took in a deep breath, I pointed my gun at the one right behind the one with the crossbow. He was too busy knifing the walker in front of him to notice the one behind him. Without second thought, I shot the walker in the head. Once I got started, I didn't stop. Five. Six. Seven. I started shooting the walkers around the group of people down below. They were too focused to notice that some of the walkers were falling to the ground. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. The guy with the crossbow was no longer surrounded by walkers. He turned around in confusion before noticing some walkers near the two people with guns. Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. The woman with the dreadlocks was still battling a few walkers. The others started to shoot arrows and bullets to help her out, although she did not look like she needed any help. There had to be at least forty walkers lying on the ground. The group was exchanging looks and whispering among themselves. Did they know I was there? I backed away from the edge of the roof to avoid being seen.

"Who's there?" The woman with the gun yelled out. Shit. They knew.

"Ya think they're on the roof?" The guy with the crossbow asked the group.

"Nowhere else they could be to get such clear shots." The man with the gun answered.

"We know you're on the roof. You can come out." The woman yelled out again. "We just wanna say thanks."

So just say it. Why do I have to show myself? Can't you just say thanks from there? "You're welcome." I yelled out in response. "But I'm not coming down."

"Why not?" The man with the gun asked.

"Cause I don't know you…" I yelled back.

"But that didn't stop you from helping us out." He replied.

"How do I know you won't just kill me and steal my supplies?" I asked.

"We're good people." He answered.

"Yeah, that's what they all say…" I responded.

"We're putting our weapons on the ground. We just wanna talk." The woman spoke up again.

I know I'm gonna regret this. I just know it. "Alright." Slowly, I grabbed my backpack and flung it over my shoulder. The cut on my shoulder-blade was stinging like crazy. After making my way to the side of the roof by empty alley, I jumped onto the dumpster and then made my way to the ground.

As I made my way to the group, I could notice the guy with the crossbow studying me, trying to figure out if I was trustworthy or not. "Who are you?" His voice held some hostility.

"I'm the girl who saved your ass." I answered with smirk on my face.

"I'm Tyreese." The man with the gun introduced himself. "This is my sister, Sasha." He pointed to the woman with the gun standing next to him. "That's Michonne." She was one that fought like a ninja. "And that's…That's Daryl." So that was his name. I just noticed his arms and damn. His sleeves had been ripped off, probably so he could show off his biceps. "What's your name?"

"It doesn't really matter, does it?" I turned to face Tyreese.

"Are you alone?" Michonne asked me.

"Why? Do you see anyone else?" I joked and pretended to look behind me.

"How did you get that?" Sasha asked me pointing to her shoulder-blade.

"I didn't get bit…" I said in defense. "I fell…on glass…"

"It's bleeding through the bandage…"

"I know."

"Did you stitch it up?"

"Kinda hard to reach, you know?"

"Where are you staying?" Tyreese asked me.

"On that roof for now." I answered. "It's the only place that's safe from those walkers."

"Come with us." Tyreese said surprising everyone. He was being sincere, I could see it in his eyes.

"We don't know that girl. Ya can't just" Daryl started to argue.

"Come with us. We have someone who can stitch you up." Sasha said cutting Daryl off.

"Whoa…Ain't anybody listening to me? We don't know this chick." Daryl seemed more upset now.

"It's ok…I'm fine." Even though I could sense that they were good people, the last thing I wanted to be was a hassle.

"See she don't wanna come anyway. Let's just get outta here." Daryl spoke again.

"Daryl stop it." Tyreese warned. "She saved our butts today. We should at least help her."

"Rick won't like it." Daryl argued.

"I can talk to Rick. I trust her. Besides, she's got an amazing shot. She could be really valuable to the group." Tyreese defended me.

This was starting to make me feel really awkward. They were talking like I wasn't even there.

"I'm fine on my own. I've been on my own for two months now and I'm still alive. So thank you for wanting me to join your group. But I'm gonna say no." I interrupted their little argument.

"Is it 'cause of Daryl?" Sasha spoke up. "He's just being an ass 'cause he doesn't know how to act around a pretty girl..."

Wow could this get any more awkward? I didn't even have to look at Daryl to know he was glaring at me.

"You've been on your own for two months?" Michonne broke the awkward silence. I nodded in reply. "That's impressive… But you should come with us. This group…it's a good one." She continued. "Better than the Governor's anyway." She said under her breath.

What? "You know about the Governor?" I was quite shocked.

"How do you know him?" Daryl asked angrily. Did he assume that I was with the Governor? That's the last thing I'd ever do.

"Saw him and his guys murder a whole camp. Children and all."

"You got away?" Tyreese asked curiously.

"I'd been with the group for barely than a week. There were thirteen of us. I was out getting water for everyone. By the time I came back, they had already killed ten. One of them grabbed me from behind and told me to keep quiet. He must have been new to the group or something because he looked horrified too. He told me to stay as far away from the Governor and Woodbury as possible and gave me a chance to run. I ran as fast and far as my legs could handle." I explained to them. I felt sick in my stomach just thinking about what happened that day. It was months ago, but it still haunts my dreams.

"The Governor's dead." Daryl said making eye contact with me. He didn't look as annoyed as before.

"Rethink our offer. Please. " Tyreese spoke softly. "Don't give us that crap about you surviving better on your own. We can help each other."

I knew he was right. Tyreese and Sasha seemed friendly, and I hated having no one to talk to. It was really lonely. "Ok. Fine...I'll come." I said nervously. "I parked my car down the street. I've got a lot of canned food with me…"

"I'll drive with you." Sasha offered.

"Thank you." I told them. "It is awfully nice what you guys are doing for me."

"Yeah…whatever," Daryl muttered before walking in the other direction.

"No...Thank you. I'm not sure we would have all made it out if you hadn't helped us. " Sasha responded while Tyreese smiled at me.

"I'm Ellie, by the way." I told them.

* * *

A prison. They lived in a prison. Sasha had told me on the way there. That wasn't the only thing she told me. Sasha, Tyreese, and two of their friends were the only ones to make it out alive when their camp was overrun. They had found the prison and were helped by the group that lived there. Rick, who is the leader of the group, had struggled with the death of his wife and took his anger out on them. When the four of them got out of the prison, they ran into the Governor's group. When the Governor ordered war, the two had gotten the hell out of there. Apparently, the prison group was able to beat the Woodbury group, but the Governor shot the rest of the Woodbury survivors. His former right hand man got bit, but before he died, he shot the Governor. Sasha and Tyreese ran into the prison group again after the battle and were welcomed by Rick this time. They have stayed with the prison group for a little over a month.

When we arrived at the prison, I could sense the uneasiness among the rest of the group when I was introduced to the others. It was easy to understand though since I was the only stranger. The sun was setting and I could hear Sasha's stomach growling.

"Are you hungry?" I whispered in her ear.

"That obvious?" She chuckled before she turned to rest of the group. "Anything to eat Carol?"

"We still got some Squirrel meat from before." Carol answered.

Oh god. Squirrel meat?

"Are you okay?" Rick asked me. Now everyone was staring at me.

"Uhh yeah…" I answered with a nervous laugh. Squirrel meat did not really appeal to me, especially when I had better options. "I have canned fruit, macaroni and cheese" I was cut off by Rick's son, Carl.

"You do?" Carl's eyes were wide.

"Yeah, I found over ten boxes in someone's home a while ago. Never really had the chance to try it." After a quick jog to the trunk of my car, I tossed Carl two boxes of macaroni and cheese and few cans of fruit.

"You sure have a lot there, don't you?" Carol was smiling.

"Yeah, I have some clothes too. I raided a cute little boutique a few weeks ago. The tops would probably fit all us women. Not really sure about the shorts or jeans though. They would probably only fit Maggie and me."

"I'll go make the mac and cheese." Carol said taking her leave.

The blonde girl, Beth, who was carrying Judith walked over to me. "What kind of shirts do you have? I can't stand the ones I have. They're too dirty." She was still a teenager and seemed innocent despite the new world we were in now.

After taking the navy blue bag out of my trunk, I put it on the ground. "Take a look. Take what you like." She handed Judith over to Carl before carrying the bag indoors. Maggie, Sasha, and I followed her.

Before stepping inside, I took a moment to take in my surroundings. For the first time in a really long time, I felt safe. I could feel eyes on me, I scanned the area until I met Daryl's stare. It wasn't cold as it was before. After a moment, he gave me a nod before walking off. He may have come off as a jerk before, but I could tell now that he wasn't. Maybe he just wanted people to think he was a jerk.

As soon as I walked inside, I felt somebody's arm pull me into a hug. It was Beth. "Thank you Ellie."

I hugged her back awkwardly. "Umm…you're welcome."

"This shirt is so pretty…I used to have one like this." She was holding a pink lace top.

"Take it, I really have no use for it…I only grabbed it because I thought it looked nice." I told her.

"Why do you have a dress?" Maggie asked picking up a green summer dress.

"I…I…umm…Don't laugh but I just wanted to wear something nice for my birthday…" I explained.

"Oh…well, it would look really nice on you. It matches your eyes." Maggie replied.

"When's your birthday?" Sasha asked me.

"End of next week." I answered.

* * *

Sasha showed me where the showers were. She waited outside the bathroom for me to finish. I overheard Rick tell her to not leave me alone. Rick didn't trust me yet and I understood that. I needed to earn his trust.

The cut on my shoulder-blade burned like eggs on a hot summer day. After my shower, I changed into a pair of loose shorts and a tank top. Sasha led me to Hershel, the vet, afterwards. He stitched up the cut for me, and though it hurt like shit, I was still grateful. The mac and cheese dinner was the best I have had in a really long time.

"So who's keeping watch tonight?" Rick asked the group.

"I can do it." The group seemed surprised at my response. "I'm not really tired or anything…"

"Do we have any other volunteers?" Rick said ignoring me.

"I'll do it." Daryl grumbled as he stood up and grabbed his crossbow.

"I can do it." I repeated myself.

This time Rick must have known that he could not ignore me. "Fine, you can go with Daryl."

"Okay. Lemme just go get my gun, Daryl." I swear I saw Daryl just make a face. Great. This would be an interesting night.

I followed Daryl outside as he led us to one of the towers. As we made our way up the stairs, I noticed how quiet his footsteps were. If I closed my eyes, I wouldn't even know he was there. No wonder he was so good at killing the walkers. He probably would sneak up on them and kill them without them even knowing he was there.

"Girl, ya slow as a turtle." Daryl muttered. I had been too distracted to realize that I had slowed down and was several steps behind him.

"Not a cloud in the sky." I said when I arrived to the top. I stood close to the edge of the railing and looked up at the night sky. "I could stare at these stars all night."

"Good for ya." Daryl scoffed and sat down. Ignoring his comment, I took a seat next to him. "Why don't ya sit over there, away from me. Okay girl?"

"I don't have cooties. I swear." I crossed my arms. "I'm not moving. You don't want me next to you. Okay...well you are welcome to move somewhere else."

Daryl didn't move. He didn't even reply. He just sat there with his binoculars scanning the area even though we both knew there weren't any walkers there. It was pretty obvious that Daryl was not one for conversations.

We sat in silence for what seemed like forever. I couldn't bear it anymore. "So what's your story?"

"Nothin' to tell, girl." He shook his head at me.

"Well, tell me something then. Anything." I threw my arms up.

"Why I gotta do that, huh?"

"I don't know…because this is the first time in two months that I have been around other people. And…and I miss people, okay? Another week on my own and I would have started talking to imaginary friends again…" I took in a deep breath to stop myself from ranting.

"Again?"

"What?" I asked for clarification.

"You talk to imaginary folk before, girl?"

"Well…" I started to explain but got cut off.

"Knew you were crazy from the start." He joked.

"You didn't have an imaginary friend as a kid?" I asked.

"No. I wasn't crazy in the head like you."

I laughed for the first time in a while. "Oh shut up."

"Now you want me to stop?" He smirked. "Thought you wanted to talk. I'm talking, aren't I?"

Leaning over him, I tried to lift his crossbow. "Damn." It was heavy.

"The fuck ya think your doin', girl?" His hand was quick to cover mine.

I turned my head to look at him. Our faces were only inches away.

"I…I just wanted to see how heavy it was?" His eyes were staring into mine and it made me nervous so I had to look away.

"And?"

"Well,it's heavy. No wonder your arms are so jacked." I answered. He chuckled and finally lifted his hand off mine, and I moved back to my spot. "I saw you today, shooting those walkers straight in the head, every single time. When did you learn to shoot like that?"

"I'd go hunting with my brother as a kid all the damn time. I was sixteen or something when I saw this crossbow one day in the store. Knew I had to get it, so I saved up for months to buy it. Took a while to get the technique down 'cause I had to teach myself." He explained.

"My grandfather was a hunter too. I spent a whole summer with him in Georgia this one time. He taught me how to shoot. Surprised both of us when it turned out I was actually pretty good at it, you know? So he got all excited and decided to take me hunting with him…It took us hours, but we finally found this deer. We got real close to it. My grandfather tells me to shoot, but I froze. I just kept thinking about Bambi." I paused for a moment. Daryl was shaking his head at me and chucking. "Anyway, I refused to take the shot, so he did. And…and then I just started bawling my eyes out...I couldn't stop..."

"What happened to the deer?" He asked, bringing me back to the story.

"Well it died…My grandfather knew I wouldn't be able to bring it back with us, so he offered it to these two hunters that heard the shot and my cries They thought that someone got shot or something."

"Ya said there were two hunters?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"How old were they?" He seemed really into this story.

"They were brothers…one of them was probably early thirties. The other one, the cute one was…maybe early twenties. Gosh, it was so embarrassing. The older one was hysterically laughing at me, like a hyena. The cute one was nicer, he didn't laugh at me. I could tell he felt bad for me, looked at me like I was a baby or something for crying…and" I was cut off with another question.

"How old were ya?"

"Don't laugh…I was seventeen." I whispered. Daryl started to laugh. Didn't I just tell him to not laugh? I gave him a gentle punch on the arm. "I said not to laugh."

"It was me." He said while he was laughing.

"Huh?" What was he talking about?

"Me and Merle."

"Merle?" I was so confused.

"My brother. The hunters your grandfather gave the deer to…it was us." He finally stopped laughing.

"No…no way…" I was shaking my head. That was impossible. I brought my face closer to his to study him. The eyes. I remember those eyes. How hadn't I noticed before. "No fucking way…" This time I started laughing. "What are the chances?"

"Ya thought I was cute back then?" He asked with a smirk on his face and chuckled.

"Still do." I said under my breath.

"Really?" Daryl looked into my eyes.

Shit. Didn't mean for him to hear me. I just gotta play it off cool. "Maybe…if you'd swipe that smirk off your face"

"We'd still laugh about you all the time." He was still looking right into my eyes, which for some reason was making me nervous.

"Oh great." I shook my head. "So I was just a big joke to you guys."

"Pretty much."

"You suck." I said playfully punching his arm.

* * *

I woke up to the sun rising. After a few blinks, my eyes finally adjusted to the light. As I yawned, I heard a voice.

"Mornin' sunshine."

I jumped when I heard Daryl's voice. Of course, I'd fall asleep using his shoulder as a pillow. This is embarrassing. When did I even fall asleep? "I'm sorry…" I moved away from him and stood up to stretch.

"Don't be. Ya needed the sleep." After a pause, he continued. "Why don't ya go in and get a few hours?"

"Where? I don't even have my own cell?"

"Mine. I got two beds in there." He offered.

"Thanks Daryl."

"Yeah…whatever." He shrugged.

* * *

A light tapping on my shoulder woke me up again. Carol. "Uhh…hi."

"Breakfast will be ready in a bit. Why don't you come down in a bit? Wake Daryl up too."

"Me?" Why couldn't she just wake him up?

"Yeah." She said as she walked out.

After a few stretches, I gently spoke called his name. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. "Daryl…Daryl." I gently tapped his arm. "Whoa." He grabbed my arm in a defensive manner.

"Oh…it's you…" He let go of my arm instantly. Daryl got up slowly, pushing the blanket off, and stretched his arms. Shirtless. He was shirtless.

"Breakfast…" I turned around so I could stop myself from staring. I could hear him laugh. "What's so funny?" I spun around and crossed my arms. Stop staring. I choose to look at the wall instead while I waited for him to answer me. He didn't, but I could feel his eyes on me. "Yeah that's what I thought." With that I walked out. I could hear him laugh again.

"I must be imagining things...thought I heard Daryl laughing for a second there." Glenn told Maggie.

"So it wasn't just me?" She asked him. They gave each other a look and gave me a questioning look as I walked over to the rest of the group.

"How did you get Daryl to laugh?" Rick spoke up. Everyone fell silent to listen to my response.

"I…I have no idea why he was laughing at me…" I shrugged.

Carol handed me a bowl of canned fruit and I sat down beside Sasha and began to eat.

* * *

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	2. Chapter 2

I don't own TWD, only my OC

* * *

Daryl walked out of his cell with his crossbow over his shoulder and a small bag with him. He made eye contact with Carol and gave her a nod as he made his way outside the prison. Where was he going? Definitely not guard duty. I followed him outside to question him.

Before I had the chance to open my mouth to speak, Daryl spun around with an annoyed face. "Why ya followin' me like a puppy dog?" He said in gruff voice.

Did he really just compare me to a dog? I ignored his choice of words and answered his question. "Just wonderin' where you are headed..."

"Why ya care anyway?" He stepped a little closer to me with a questioning look on his face.

Why did I care? That was a good question. "Um...curiosity? Also if you're going on a supply run, I can help. I'm quick, quiet, and pretty fuckin' smart." I didn't mean to brag but I know I had come off that way.

Daryl just shook his head and scoffed. "I'd take Judith with me before I'd take you." A smile formed on the corners of his mouth.

My mouth dropped. How insulting! "That's mean." I put an arm on my hip. "Why would you say that?"

"Can't risk bringin' ya. The damn cryin' would invite any walker in the five mile area." He laughed.

It took me a moment to understand his reference. He was going hunting. Of course. "Good one Daryl." I said sarcastically.

"See ya Bambi." He gave me a nod before walking away. Bambi? I have a feeling that Daryl won't let me live that hunting trip down anytime soon.

* * *

I spent most of my day with Sasha and Tyreese on guard duty. The few walkers that came close to the fence were eliminated within seconds. When the sun finally set, Glenn and Maggie took over guard duty giving the three of us a chance to escape the heat and take a break inside.

I don't even know why I noticed, but Daryl wasn't back by dinner. No one else seemed to be the least bit worried.

"Something on your mind." Carol had snuck up behind me.

"Oh, nothing really." I answered.

"Rick wants you to stay close to the group, but there are only so many cells in the block…We can't give you your own cell, so for the time being, you can stay in Daryl's. He's not here anyway."

I could tell that this was more about the group keeping an eye on me. "When will Daryl be back?" I didn't want him to feel awkward or uncomfortable about finding me in his cell. Sure I took a nap in his cell early this morning, but it was just a onetime thing. I didn't have to know Daryl for long to know that he likes to keep a distance from everyone else.

"Probably by tomorrow afternoon. If you're worried about how Daryl would feel about sharing a cell with you, there's no need. Rick told him about this morning. He didn't seem too bothered by it. Daryl knows that he's the only one who's got an extra bed. Would've had to share his cell with anyone that joined us…" Carol went on.

* * *

Carol woke me up once again. Instead of watch duty, I was to help Carol and Beth with the chores though I'd rather be on watch.

Carol and Beth gave me strange looks as I helped them prepare lunch.

"Did you cook much before this whole outbreak?" Carol asked me with a grin on her face. Beth had the same amused look.

"That obvious, huh?" I laughed. "I can count on my hand, the number of times I prepared a meal by myself. My grandmother loved cooking so I never really had the need to learn to cook myself growing up. Ate cafeteria food in college all four years. After graduation, I moved in my best friend from college who, thankfully, was just as great a cook as my grandmother. I couldn't even touch the oven or stove in our apartment without her losing her head. She was always terrified I'd burn the whole building down." I explained.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Beth laughed.

"Well, not really. When she was sick, this one time, I tried to cook her a nice meal like she had always done for me when I was sick…well it didn't end well. Burned all the food, smoke was everywhere. No fire thankfully, but after that she never let me attempt to cook anything." I continued the story.

The two women looked at each other and shook their heads at me before they laughed softly.

When Judith began to cry, Beth volunteered to help. I followed her. I had seen Judith a few times since I had joined this group, but I have yet to hold her.

"Do you wanna carry her?" She read my mind.

"Yeah, I'd love that." Beth gently placed Judith in my arms. "Hey there Judith…Why are you crying? You hungry?" I was trying to calm her down as Beth prepared the baby formula.

"Lemme see her." A familiar voice spoke right into my ear. I flinched before looking behind me. Daryl. He was back, his face barely inches away from me. I didn't even get a chance to respond before he lifted the baby out of my arms. "Lil' Asskicker…making trouble again baby girl?" His voice was so soft it was almost unrecognizable.

Was this the same badass Daryl that goes around shooting arrows at walkers like it's nobody's business? There was a new, sudden silence that caught me by surprise. Judith had stopped crying the moment she was in his arms. Beth handed him the bottle. I watched in pure shock as he fed her the bottle and then put her back to sleep in the crib.

"Keep ya mouth open any longer… and you'll choke on a damn fly." Daryl smirked at me before exiting the cell. Beth giggled in response, but stopped when I shot her a glance. I followed him as he walked over to Carol. "Got a few more squirrels out there, alright?"

"Thanks Daryl." Carol gave him a quick smile.

"Yeah. Whatever." He shrugged as he walked into his cell.

"Ellie thanks for your help this morning, but we can take it from here. We can't risk you burning the prison down…" She laughed. "Why don't you ask Rick if there is anywhere you can be of more help?" She suggested.

"Alright. See ya." I waved bye to Carol before walking outside to find the leader. "Rick? Rick?" I walked over to him after I spotted him talking to Carl.

"Yeah, what's up?" He asked.

"Anything I can do?"

"Guard Duty. Next shift is in a few hours. 'Til then, you're free." He answered before continuing his conversation with his son.

Guess I can go see what Daryl's up to. He was still in his cell when I went back indoors. I sat on the mattress across from him and watched him clean his crossbow. "What do ya want Bambi?" He said without even looking up at me.

"Nothing…just bored. Got a few hours off until I go guard duty." I answered. He continued to completely focus his attention on his crossbow. "You're really good with Judith. Wouldn't have pegged you as a baby whisperer…"

"And?" He seemed annoyed.

"What? Can't take a compliment?" I brought my feet up on the mattress and lied down. Daryl didn't reply. "Hope you don't mind getting stuck with me…"

Finally, he shifts his gaze looking at me straight in the eye. "Worse things have happened." I gave him a small smile in return.

I didn't mean to fall asleep, but I did. Rick reassigned guard duty so Michonne took over my shift. Carol woke me up in time for dinner. Daryl had taken a quick nap as well. Rick sent both of us out on night duty again.

* * *

It had been at least an hour since we had started night duty. Neither of us had said a word yet, but I didn't mind it one bit. The silence was strangely nice. Before the outbreak, I would have tried to break it with useless words, a one-sided conversation.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the nice, cool breeze. For a moment I was back at the beach with my grandmother and my childhood best friend, Clara. We were building sandcastles, playing tag with the cute twin boys, and collecting seashells all over again. Clara moved away the summer before middle school and I've always regretted not keeping in touch. Wonder if she's still alive.

"Ya ain't fallin' asleep on me again are ya?" Daryl's voice startled me.

"No."

"Good." Daryl whispered. After several minutes, he spoke again "Why ya so quiet?"

"This coming from Mr. Chatterbox?" I said sarcastically.

Of course he ignored my joke. "Ain't ya cold?" He asked. "Sitting there in those tiny shorts?"

It wasn't until Daryl asked, that I had noticed how cold it had gotten tonight. "I guess." I should really rethink my clothing choices if I was going on night duty. Best if I left my shorts and tank tops for when I'm inside now that the weather had started to change. Without hesitation, Daryl took off his leather jacket and dropped it in my lap. It actually had sleeves. This was a surprise. "Thanks Daryl." I used his jacket to cover my bare legs.

"Yeah whatever."

"You don't fool me Daryl." I turned my head to look at him. His eyes were staring into mine. "You act like a jerk most of the time, but really…you're not. A jerk I mean. Sure you may have your moments, but don't we all? I knew it from that first day. You thought it was funny, just like your brother, when I was crying over a dead deer. I could tell…But you didn't laugh at me, well in my face anyway, until last night." I stared back into his.

Daryl waited a moment to answer. I could tell he was trying to think of how to respond. "Ya were bawlin' your eyes out like a lil baby…I didn't laugh 'cause I knew it would make ya cry even more…and it would've scared the other game away…That don't make me a nice guy…"

"Doesn't make you a jerk either…" I defended my previous point.

"Cause I wasn't an ass like Merle?"

"I'm sorry." Daryl gave me a questioning look. "Heard about what happened…" Carol had told me how he died. He had been bit by a walker, but before he turned he shot the Governor. Daryl had been the one to put Merle down.

"Ya only met him once and he laughed in ya face…Rick had to handcuff him to a roof in Atlanta 'cause he was givin' everyone a hard time and had to leave him there too. We went back to get him…but the son of a bitch cut his damn hand off and stole our van too…we had to run all the way back to camp…After that he joined Woodbury and the Governor. Did ya know that?" Daryl took in a deep breath. It was obvious to me that Daryl was trying to paint his brother as a bad guy to make his mourning easier. "Ya should be glad ya only met him that once."

Wait. No, it couldn't be or could it? "You said he cut off his hand?" I sat up straight and turned to him.

"Yeah."

"What are the chances?" I laughed.

"What ya talkin' 'bout Bambi?" Daryl eyes studied my face.

"He's the one. Merle…he was the one that saved me..." I paused for a second to take in a deep breath. "Your brother was the guy who let me get away from the camp when the Governor attacked us. I remember his hand or I guess lack of one."

"That son of a bitch…" Daryl chuckled. I could see a smile creep up on his face.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him…" I whispered. "So he must not have been all bad…"

* * *

Over breakfast, Rick mentioned a supply run for medical supplies and ammo. They had already hit all the nearby places. The furthest they had searched had been a few days ago when they had run into me. They were only able to get their hands on baby formula and diapers from the pharmacy, but nothing else.

"So where can we check now?" Maggie asked.

"Few weeks ago, I stayed in this town for two days. Pretty sure the police station still has weapons and ammo. Place was crowded with walkers so I barely made it through the entrance." I began.

"Then how do you know there were still weapons?" Glenn asked.

"Cause some of the walkers still had guns around their belt. If anyone had gone through there, they would have grabbed those too…" I explained. "I couldn't go on my own because I had no one watching my back, but if we had maybe four or five of us, we could probably clean the whole place out and grab everything we need."

"How far away is it?" Rick leaned forward with curiosity.

"Pretty far from here…There were a lot of walkers on the roads around there which was why I only stayed for two days. It would take two days because of all the walkers." I answered Rick.

"Can't send five of you, not for that long…" Rick was shaking his head now.

"Place may not necessarily be crawling with walkers anymore…Were they locked inside Ellie?" Tyreese asked.

"No…the doors were open…so place may be partially cleaned out already…" That thought had only now occurred to me. Walkers roam around from place to place in search of something or someone to feed on. When I was sprinting out of the prison, I didn't have the time to lock the doors to the station.

Rick took a moment to think it over before responded. "Four is the most we can send on this trip including you Ellie 'cause you're the only one who knows this place…"

"I'll go." Daryl was the first to volunteer. We made quick eye contact and he gave a slight nod before turning his attention back to the food.

Michonne raised her hand up slightly to show she was volunteering.

"I can go as well." Tyreese spoke up.

Maggie hesitated before speaking up. "Ellie, were there any pharmacies or hospitals nearby?"

I leaned my head down and closed my eyes as I was trying to remember. Nothing came to mind. The only place I could think of was a nursing home on the other side of town. "What about a nursing home? It was in the same town…"

"Could be some medicine and supplies that may be of great use." Hershel answered.

"Then I have to go." Maggie said confidently. "I'll know what to get 'cause of what Dad taught me." She looked at her father, who looked a little uneasy. Hershel knew that Maggie was right, but of course as a father, he didn't really want her in danger's way.

"Well then…I have to go too." Glenn took Maggie's hand and held in between both his palms. Their love for each other brought a smile to my face.

"And I'm still goin'…somebody's gotta keep 'em alive…" Daryl looked at Rick and gave Hershel a nod.

"Ok so Michonne and Tyreese…Thanks for volunteering but you guys can stay back." Rick said looking at them before he looked at us four. "Take two cars just to be on the safe side. I'm taking you guys off night duty tonight so guys need your rest for tomorrow. But for the rest of the day, you're on guard duty. You leave at dawn."

* * *

"Bambi, we don't got all day. Hurry ya ass up." Daryl leaned against the door to our cell. It would be easier to pack up without him standing over my shoulder. I zipped up the backpack and flung it over my shoulder.

As I walked out of the cell, I threw Daryl a glare. I could hear him scoff in reply as he followed me out of the prison. Daryl wasn't in such a good mood today. Well, from what I've noticed in my few days here, he is never in a good mood. Today was worse though and I knew it was because of what happened last night. Maggie hugged her sister and father before getting into the car with Glenn. Daryl was going in my car which I hadn't minded earlier. However, that was before last night.

"Give me the damn keys Bambi." Daryl was already standing on the driver's side of the car, specifically my car.

"Maybe if you ask nicely." I closed the trunk of the car.

After making a face Daryl followed my advice. "Can ya please give me the keys?" He threw a fake smile in there too.

I walked close to him with the keys in my hand. Just before he was able to take the keys from my hand, I closed my hand into a fist. "Hell no. It's my car. I drive." With that, I pushed him away from the door to the car with my hip.

"The fuck?" He scowled and dragged himself to the passenger side of my car.

* * *

We made our way to the highway. It's been twenty minutes since we've left the prison and still no words were spoken in the car. I hadn't minded the silence when were on night duty, but this was bothering me because I knew he was upset with me. This whole car ride could be spent in awkwardness or we could get just it all out now in hope that at least the trip back would be less miserable.

"Sorry." It came out softer than I had intended but I saw Daryl shift uncomfortably so he definitely heard. "Sorry." This time I spoke louder so he couldn't get away with ignoring me.

"What for Bambi?" He spoke in a harsh tone.

"For…for walking in on you changing." It wasn't like he was completely naked or anything, he had his boxers on. Still, he freaked out so I ran out of there fast and tried to ignore the strange looks I had received from the others. It happened so fast that I didn't realize why he freaked out like that until later. The other day when I saw him shirtless, I only saw the front. Last night I saw his back which was covered in scars. These weren't the kind of scars you would get from hunting or by falling out of trees as a kid. Someone had hurt him intentionally. Daryl was embarrassed that I had seen them and lashed out in anger.

"Yeah…Whatever." He said still not looking at me, his eyes still focused on the scenery outside.

"I apologized…How long will you hold this against me?" I asked hesitantly.

"What?" He turned his gaze to me.

"You didn't sleep in our cell last night." By the time I returned to our cell, he was gone. It took me forever to fall asleep because of the guilt I felt for causing him to sleep somewhere else.

"Needed my space, that's all." His eyes shifted back to the window.

"If you need you space, I don't mind moving out. I can spend more nights on guard duty and sleep on the roof on my nights oft." I felt bad that I caused him to feel uncomfortable in what was originally his room. "Used to do it all the time anyway, before the prison…Besides I like looking at the stars at night and"

Daryl cut me off. "Don't be ridiculous."

"No, it really isn't that bad…" I went on.

"And if it rains?" Daryl questioned.

I hadn't thought of that. "Well, I don't want to invade your space Daryl!" I sighed. "The last thing I want to do is make you feel uncomfortable in your own cell…"

"Ya don't know what you're talkin' bout Bambi." Daryl rolled his eyes.

"I saw, Daryl, the scars…That's why you left…"

"Ya don't know shit." He was pissed.

"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to make you mad…" I said softly.

"I ain't mad Bambi."

"Yeah you are…it's all over your face Daryl." I looked at him with worried eyes.

"Don't need ya feelin' sorry for me." He crossed his arms.

"Ok…But you don't need to be embarrassed about them." I looked at him right in the eye. "If you think those scars make you weak they don't." Daryl shook his head and scoffed. "You are one of the toughest guys I've met." I surprised myself when those words came out of my mouth. Daryl was surprised too. His eyes studied my face to figure out how much truth there was to my words. He turned his head towards the window after realizing I was serious about what I had said.

* * *

Walkers. Maybe thirty or so. I pulled to the side of the car and got out. Glenn and Maggie followed suit. We were still kind of far away and they hadn't noticed us yet. Best to keep it this way until we at least come up with a plan.

"Can't shoot them all." Glenn whispered.

"Way too loud. Bad idea," Maggie added.

"I have a silencer for my gun and a few bullets to spare." I gave the couple a grin. "I can cover all your asses."

We drove a little closer before running out of our cars. Daryl was the first one to make a move. With a few swift movements of his arm, four of the walkers fell to the ground. Glenn and Maggie ran straight to the middle of the group. I shot out a few bullets nailing the walkers that were a little too close to them. They stood back to back as they began slaying the walkers with hits to their heads. I watched as Daryl pulled out arrows from the eyes of walkers he had just put down. Two walkers were right on his tail. Daryl spun around to knife them but they had just fallen. I had taken care of the threat. His eyes searched for mine and when he found them, he gave a slight nod. The rest of the walkers were more spread out so I ran closer to the scene. With a hatchet in my head, I ran ahead of Daryl and started swinging. The first one is always the hardest. After the third, I just follow the rhythm. Search. Find. Slay. It was so much easier knowing someone has my back. Daryl. It was a feeling that I had not realized I had missed terribly until now.

A hand of my shoulder made me jump and I acted on instinct. I thought we had taken down all the walkers. Guess I was wrong.

"Whoa there Bambi. Put that down." Daryl smirked. My hatchet was right at his throat.

"Serves you right for sneaking up on me." I removed the weapon away from him.

"Lesson learned." He chuckled. "Come on, move them off them the road." He grabbed the arms of a walker and motioned for me to get the legs. Together we dragged the body to the grass. Glenn and Maggie were doing the same on the other side of the road. We made a good team. No, we made a great team. All four of us.

"What are ya smilin' like that for, Bambi?" Daryl's voiced interrupted my thoughts.

Was I really smiling? "Oh…nothing." We brushed shoulders as we moved to the next closest walker. I looked up to catch his gaze. Maybe it was the way the sun was shining on his face or how the bright the sky was, but in that moment, I was mesmerized by his piercing blue eyes. I was as lost in his eyes as I had been in that corn maze when I was eight. It was like a staring contest in which neither of us could look away.

Kiss me. Just do it. I surprised myself with these thoughts. A new nervous feeling look over and I backed away and focused my eyes on the walker lying by my feet. As we lifted the body, I stole a glance at Daryl whose eyes met mine again. He was giving me that look again. I swear my heart just skipped a beat. He really needed to stop looking at me like that. If he continues to do that, I may just suffer from a heart attack. Fuck. Do I really have feelings for Daryl? No, I can't. It was just a moment. Nothing more. Can't be anything more. Right?

* * *

Please Review! If I don't get reviews, I'm not as motivated to continue the story. How was this chapter?


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for the reviews! It really motivates me to update faster with longer chapters.

Disclaimer: I only own my OC

* * *

Once again, we were back in the cars. Not even twenty minutes later, we were blocked off by yet another group of walkers. There were no more than ten of them this time. I parked the car and turned towards Daryl who only nodded at me before stepping out of the car with his crossbow pointed at the walkers. After a moment, I followed him with my hands gripped on the hatchet. The sound of footsteps behind me caught my attention. Maggie and Glenn. We made our way to the walkers together. Out of the corner of my eye I could see arrows flying in the air. One. Two. Three walkers were down. With a swing of my arm, I decapitated a walker. Glenn and Maggie had brought down three more walkers. Two walkers were approaching me from the right. I waited for them to come closer before taking a swing at both of them. Daryl, now on my left, pulled out a knife from the skull of a walker.

"I have a feeling we're gonna run into a lot more walkers before we even get there." Glen broke the silence of the group. Maggie looked into his eyes before slipping her hand in his.

"We can take 'em." Daryl said heading back to the car after kicking a few walkers to the side of the road to make room for the cars.

Four more groups of walkers had come in our way before we reached the town. There weren't more than twelve walkers in each group thankfully. The sun had already started to set which meant we needed to call it a night.. We would not be search for the police station or the nursing home until the next day. The only place we would have time to secure was a small clothing store. No walkers in there whatsoever. Glenn and Daryl dragged the checkout counter to the entrance of the door to stop any walkers from entering the store. Maggie and I locked the backroom entrance. Walkers probably wouldn't be able to break the door open, but cleared off a jewelry table and pushed it against the door for precaution anyway.

The store had glass windows, so we had to gather up at the back of the store behind the racks of clothes. When it got dark, the walkers would probably not be able to spot us there.

Maggie threw Glenn, Daryl, and me each a bottle of water. I sipped on the water slowly, wanting to save it for tomorrow or emergencies.

"Ellie." Maggie waved me over. "Bathroom?" She smiled as she pointed to the Women's sign on the door.

"End of the world and still women go to the bathroom together…some things never change." Glenn cracked a joke earning a chuckle from Maggie as we both made our way into the bathroom.

We checked the stalls to make sure there weren't any walkers around. Soap. I squirted a bunch of soap and rubbed it on my arms which were partially covered in walker blood before washing it off with the water. "Don't think the water is safe." Maggie frowned.

"To drink…but I think its fine to wash with." I responded. Maggie seemed satisfied with my answer and copied my actions.

"We could take some of the clothes back with us…No one would complain." Maggie said.

"And the tampons." I grinned when I saw the dispenser next to me. I used my hatchet to break open the dispenser and Maggie grabbed the tampons before we headed out.

"What ya got there?" Daryl asked Maggie when he spotted her.

"Tampons." Glenn said before Maggie or I had a chance to respond. Maggie and I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Daryl just gave him a questioning look. "What? Did you think all those supply runs to Atlanta were just for food?" This time even Daryl had to smile.

Maggie dumped the tampons in a pocket in her backpack. Glenn walked over to the women's clothing side of the store. He grabbed a white maxi dress and brought it over to Maggie. "What's this?"

"Wedding dress?" He said in a whisper. Daryl and I were standing far away from each other, but still gave each other a look of amusement.

"Yeah…I mean it wasn't what I imagined growing up, but it'll do." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Seeing them so happy in a time like this, in a world like this, brought a smile to my face. After a minute or two, I made my way to Daryl. I motioned for him to follow me as I walked to the men's side of the store.

"What do you think of this?" I picked up a black hooded jacket which would come in handy for the colder months ahead.

"Ya my personal shopper now?" He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Ain't really my style."

"Cut the sleeves off then…" I suggested. Daryl leaned his head to the right and gave the jacket another glance. "It wouldn't fit your arms otherwise." I said under my breath and chuckled to myself.

"What was that Bambi?" He probably didn't hear me. Right? After shooting him a glance, I knew I was wrong. He had heard me. Daryl had a slightly amused face. He opened his mouth to say something, but quietly laughed instead.

"Uh…nothing." Time to look away and pretend nothing happened. I began to rummage through the other shirts and jackets as a distraction.

"Hmm...don't think it'd fit my arms though…" Daryl commented at the long sleeve shirt that was in my left hand. He leaned against the table a foot away from me. I refused to make eye contact. Instead, I dropped the shirt from my hand, but he grabbed it before it fell back on the table.

"For Rick." I told him. It wasn't a complete lie. I hadn't been looking for it to fit a specific person, but it would probably fit him. Daryl threw it to me and I put it in the bag I was carrying. I grabbed a few other long-sleeved shirts and dumped them in the bag as well. Daryl handed me the black jacket I had picked out for him earlier. Guess it wasn't that bad after all. I couldn't help but let a smile out when I put it in the bag as well. "Good choice."

"Don't push it Bambi." He warned.

"Ellie." My head spun around to face Maggie who was on the opposite side of the store in the women's section with Glenn. "Sweaters for us and the other girls?"

Daryl nodded at me to tell me to go.

* * *

Before calling it a night, we had come up with a plan for tomorrow. We would hit the police station first to get the weapons and ammo which we could use to break into the nursing home. Glenn and Maggie stuck to the back of the women's side of the store which left Daryl and I to the opposite side.

We'd seen a few walkers walking by a little earlier, but they had thankfully not noticed us in here.

"I can keep watch." I volunteered.

"Ain't no need. Walkers can't see us all the way back here. Even if they did, we'd hear the bangin' on the door." Daryl spoke up. "Just go to bed Bambi." Daryl whispered in my ear causing me to shiver a little. Had he really been sitting this close to me? This was unusual for him.

"Okay Daryl." I used a bundle of clothes as a pillow.

Daryl adjusted a pile of clothes and rested his head on them with his crossbow lying next to him. It was weirdly comforting having him so close to me. Safety. Even though, we were in this walker infested town, I felt safe sleeping next to him.

"Why ya starin' at me?" Daryl grumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

I didn't even realize I had been staring until that moment. "I…I..."

"Don't stress ya self out Bambi, already know ya think I'm cute." He laughed softly as he turned to face me. Even though he was joking around, I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Good thing it was dark now because otherwise he would have seen me blushing. "Oh please…don't flatter yourself. That was years ago." I crossed my arms.

"Then why ya always starin' at my arms, huh?" He chuckled.

This is not good. I bet my cheeks are as red as a tomato. "'Cause they're nice?" It sounded more like a question instead of compliment. "Besides, you basically put them on exhibition. I mean what do you have against sleeves anyway?"

Daryl only laughed. I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

* * *

"Oh great. We're doomed." Glenn whispered as he wiped off sweat from his forehead. We had left the clothing store in the late morning and had walked around until we found the police station. The station was down this street and we were hiding behind a car. Thirty walkers were all over the street. If there were this many outside the police station, how many would there be inside?

"We can't take them all on at once…and we all can't make a run for it." Maggie said. Glenn gave Maggie a pleading look. "No. Hell no. You can't." Maggie ordered.

"I'm the fastest though." Glenn argued.

"I can do it." My voice surprised the three of them. Daryl just scoffed behind me.

"Tryna get yourself killed?" Daryl asked with an annoyed tone.

"See those buildings across the street. If I can find a way to the roof of that one…" I pointed to the bookstore across the street. "I can jump to the next one over there and then find a way down. Maybe go around the back of the police station and get in. As far as I know the main entrance is the only open door. So the walkers are probably around there, not at the back."

"It doesn't like a good idea." Maggie shook her head.

"One of you can find a car down a few streets and shatter the window so the alarm goes off. That way all the walkers would be drawn there. Whoever does that though…can't come back here. You'd have to meet back at the clothing store from yesterday."

"And you can signal the other two when the station is clear?" Glenn asked. I nodded in response.

"It's still too risky…" Maggie said.

"I can pull the distraction…" Glenn volunteered.

"Ya sure ya wanna do this?" Daryl asked me.

"Yeah. I can do it. Anything goes wrong…I'll hide out on a roof so the walkers can't get me. Anything goes wrong for you guys, go back to the clothing store."

"Let's do this." Glenn gave an encouraging grin.

I was on the edge of the roof of the bookstore. If I don't make and fall, I'd live. I might break an arm or leg, but I'll survive. That is, unless the walkers get to me before Maggie and Daryl. My eyes search for them until I spot them standing behind a dumpster now. Maggie gave me a quick wave and Daryl just nodded.

First I threw the two bags on the roof of the next building. Now it was my turn. After a count of three, I jumped and made it, right on the edge. I took a forward step, but felt myself moving backwards instead. A quick glance at my feet gave me the answer why. Untied shoelaces are really going to be the end of me. Somehow I tripped. My arms were gripped on the edge of the roof. I tried to swing my legs up to reach the edge. Shit. It wasn't working. My elbows and forearms could only hold me up for so long. A growling and moaning sound caught my attention. Two walkers were right underneath me. Although, I was a few feet above them, the second I fall, I'm their next meal. Adrenaline must have kicked in because this time, my leg almost reached the roof. Come on. I can do this. Got it. My right foot was on the edge of the roof. I slowly brought myself up onto the roof. My heart was racing. Why was it so quiet? I stole a quick glance down where the walkers had been. Arrows in both of them. Daryl. He had my back again.

There were maybe six or seven walkers down below this building. No way could I get off the roof without them noticing and gathering all around me. I needed to use my gun but only had about three bullets left. What was I going to do? Come on, think of something. The sound of a faint car alarm caught my attention. Glenn had done it and was probably on his way back to the base now. The walkers on the ground noticed as well and they made their way out of the alley and into the street, joining the herd to the direction of the sound. This was my chance. I made my way off the roof by jumping onto the dumpster as quietly as I possibly could and continued to make my way to the prison. I climbed over the fence and made my way to the parking lot in the back. A group of five walkers were dragging their feet around this small parking lot. I could get to each of them individually and take them down since they were each a few cars away from another.

By the time I had only one walker left, I was feeling pretty confident, maybe even overly confident. A forceful stab in the head with my hatchet brought the walker down easily. The grip of a hand at my ankle made me jump. A walker was on the ground with her hand pulling at my ankle. I kicked its hand away with my other foot and then took her out with my hatchet. Good thing I was wearing skinny jeans today or else I would have been a goner.

The door to the police station was locked. My hatchet wouldn't do me any good. How do I get this door open? Hair pin. I only had one left. My hands searched my head for the pin and when I finally found it, I was quite relieved. It took me several minutes to get the door open. My happiness did not last more than five seconds. A few walkers were standing in front of me as if they had been waiting for me all along. I swung my hatchet at the first one and quickly brought it to the ground. The three that were left had gotten a little too close to me. The closest one wasn't too hard to bring down, but then I was trapped between the two remaining walkers. I swung at the one in front of me and spun around to kill the one behind me, but I was too late. It was already lying on the ground with an arrow through its head. Daryl.

Daryl was still in the parking lot, but he was making his way towards me. Maggie was behind him. Whatever happened to waiting for me to signal when it was safe to come?

Daryl swung his crossbow over his shoulder and gave me a nod. Cool and composed as always.

"Thanks…though I could have managed on my own." I crossed my arms.

"Yeah, sure looked liked it." Maggie said looking at the walkers in the parking lot I had put down. "We got to get in and out as soon as possible." Her mind was on Glenn. She needed to know that he was safe.

"Then what we standin' 'round here for?" Daryl motioned for us to follow. He led the way through the building. His arrows flew out at the walkers that roamed the halls. Maggie and I didn't even have a chance to attack any of them.

It took us a while, but we finally found the weapons room. Surely enough, there were the weapons and ammo. Daryl kept an eye out for any wandering walkers while Maggie and I raced to grab all the weapons and ammo into the bags we had brought which didn't fit. I searched the room for something else we could put the weapons in and then I found it. A black bag with the word POLICE written on it in large white letters. Maggie helped me pack all the weapons and ammo into the bag before we exited the room with Daryl leading us the way out.

* * *

"Which way now?" Maggie whispered. We had reached the police station on foot to avoid catching the attention of any walkers. We were two blocks away from the police station, but had no way of knowing how to get back to the clothing store, without crossing the same street as the car that was still ringing loudly.

"I don't know, we could try that street down there and then cross the street over there…we would still be heading in the same general direction. Right?" I suggested.

"Or maybe we could try going." Maggie was cut off by Daryl who was shushing us.

We both fell silent immediately. Daryl definitely heard something. Were the walkers closers than we had previously thought? I glanced around our surroundings, but didn't see any. Then I heard it, and I knew Maggie did as well when I saw the worried look she gave me. Voices. Three of them. Daryl motioned us to follow him and we hid behind a dumpster.

"There's some dumbass moron roaming these streets." A deep voice came from the street.

"Yeah some idiot tripped off a car alarm. Think he's still alive?" Another voice spoke up.

"He can't be that stupid, wouldn't have lived this long if he was. I'm telling you, it has to be some kind of distraction. There has to be a group around here. No one would risk that much noise unless it was absolutely necessary." The third voice answered.

There was something about the voice that was so familiar. I had to check who the voice belonged to. I leaned my head out to catch a glimpse of the men who were nearby. A hand pulled me back to safety. Daryl's eyes were glaring at me.

"Ya think they got a lot of supplies? We're running low on food. It's what the Boss sent us out here to find anyway." The first voice spoke up.

"They could have some woman too...been a while since we've run into some pretty girls." The second one added and the three of them began to laugh.

These men were disgusting. Maggie had a look of fear on her face. Something told me, it wasn't just because Glenn was out there on his own, but by what the men had just said.

"Tommy, you'd love that wouldn't you? You haven't been with a girl since before the outbreak." The first man laughed.

Tommy? No fucking way. I knew that third voice sounded so familiar.

"That true Tommy? We gonna change that soon boy...What about you get first pick the next time we run into some pretty girls?" The other man asked.

"Shut up or they'll hear us." Tommy changed the subject.

"Doubt it. Not over that car alarm anyway."

* * *

Maggie nudged me to get my attention. Her face was full of worry and confusion. "I…I know him. Tommy." I whispered to both of them.

"That asshole is ya friend?" Daryl whispered angrily in my ear.

"God no. Used to be though, before the outbreak anyway." I whispered to both of them.

"Were you part of that group before?" Maggie said.

"No. Tommy and I were in the same group at the start of the outbreak before we got separated." I explained in as few words as possible.

Daryl squinted at me in suspicion before checking to see if the coast is clear. We waited for a few minutes before following Daryl navigate through the streets killing the few walkers that got in our way. It took us about twenty minutes to make it back to the base and spotted Glenn. Maggie dropped the bag before jumping into Glenn's arms.

"We need to get the hell outta here. Fast." I interrupted their reunion.

"What's goin' on? Did something happen?" Glenn's face looked to Maggie's in confusion.

"There are others here. They didn't see us, but we overheard them. They're dangerous." Maggie explained.

"Is there somethin' ya need to tell us?" Daryl stepped in front of me so I couldn't avoid his question. "'Bout Tommy." He clarified. Maggie and Glenn looked at me with curiosity.

"He used to be a good guy before all this...but the outbreak changed him, more than most people anyway." I didn't want to tell them the details of that painful memory.

Daryl studied my face for more answers. "He do somethin' to ya?" Daryl's face and expression changed to one of more worry and sympathy. This was a different side of him.

"Tommy wouldn't hurt me. Not then. Not now. But you guys, he wouldn't hesitate to kill any of you guys." I shifted uncomfortably.

"Is he an ex?" Glenn asked.

How can I explain this to them without getting into the entire story now? "No, but let's just say he liked me more than I liked him…"

* * *

"Where did these walkers come from?" I stomped on the brake. The herd of walkers couldn't see the car yet. Daryl ran out of the car. I followed him to Maggie and Glenn's car.

"We have enough bullets to take them out." Glenn was breathing heavily and sweating again.

"Yeah but by the time we kill them all, I guarantee they'll be fifty more in their place. The gunfire is surely gonna invite any and every walker from that town." I argued. We had barely made it out of the town and had already run into trouble.

"And the guys from earlier…" Maggie whispered.

"The woods. Let's go. Grab the damn bags." Daryl took control of the situation. We emptied the cars with everything we could carry. If we had left our supplies in the cars, Tommy's new group would have taken them. They would find out that Tommy was right in that there is another group around. Us.

* * *

Walkers were in the forest like suspected, but we were easily able to take them out. It had been over thirty minutes until faraway voices broke the silence. It was them again. There was nowhere to hide except the trees. Glenn and Maggie hid in the same tree, each of them carrying a bag. Daryl motioned for me to hide in a tree with him. I shook my head which I could tell surprised him. He grabbed my arm and tried to push me up so I would climb the tree.

"If they see one of us, they see us both. Better off we're in different places…" I pushed him away from me and found another nearby tree. I grabbed my bag and climbed that one as fast as I could. After settling down on a sturdy branch, I looked at Daryl. Like always, he gave a small nod, though I could tell he didn't like my decision this time.

The sound of whispers caught my attention. There were five guys of them this time, including Tommy. We were outnumbered. To make matters worse, they were standing under Maggie and Glenn.

"Hey pretty lady." The oldest one was looking right at Maggie. He and Tommy were pointing their guns at them. "Why don't you two get down here? We won't hurt you." His laugh was unsettling.

The other three guys were walking closer to me as Maggie and Glenn made their way down the tree in silence.

I breathed a sigh of relief when they walked past by me without noticing, but it didn't last too long because now they were headed towards Daryl. My heart started pounding in my chest as I noticed them staring up in the trees. I wish I was at a better angle so I could have a possible angle to shoot any of the guys if necessary.

"Your names?" The same guy as before was questioning Glenn and Maggie.

"None of your business." Maggie's voice was full of anger, but I could sense that she was trying to hide her fear.

"We got a robin hood over here." They spotted Daryl. Daryl may be a warrior with his crossbow, but I'm not sure it's not as helpful against three guys with guns pointed at his head.

I couldn't wait any longer; I needed to do the only thing I could do. I dropped the bag of my clothes and food before climbing down the tree myself. One of the guys near Daryl ran over to me.

"Got another pretty girl here." He had a nasty looking scar on his forehead. "What's your name baby girl?" This guy had at least fifteen years on me. His gun was touching the side of my head and his left hand had a firm grip on my wrists behind my back. He pushed me to get me to walk towards Maggie and Glenn. "You're real pretty baby girl. Don't try anything stupid or else I'd have to kill you. And let's just say that both of us would be upset if that happened." I shuddered at the sound of his voice right in my ear. I didn't even have to turn around to see that he was grinning. When we reached Maggie and Glenn, he pushed me towards them and he stood next to Tommy. Maggie and Glenn gave me worried looks.

"Ellie?" I looked away to meet Tommy's eyes.

"Hey Tommy." I gave him a fake smile. "What have you been." The sound of gunfire cut me off. I watched as two bodies fell to the ground.

* * *

I couldn't help myself. I had to end the chapter there for suspense. Please leave reviews. They are what encourage me to keep writing and the more I get, the faster I update chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

I only own my OCs. Thanks for the reviews. This chapter is the longest one yet. Enjoy.

* * *

They were shot in the back of the head. They didn't even know it was coming. I didn't even want to look at Tommy. He knew them. They were in the same group, damn it.

After a quick glance to the side, I saw Maggie clinging to Glenn with fear. Glenn was frozen in place from shock.

"What the hell Tommy?" One of the men with Daryl screamed.

Maggie, Glenn, and I turned our full attention to the two men running towards us. The two men had their guns pointed at Tommy. They were confused, shocked, and clearly upset by Tommy's actions. Behind them was Daryl, who was so quiet that he had been forgotten by them.

"What the fuck did you just do?" The same man as before yelled.

"They were gonna hurt them." Tommy yelled at the man. "I can't let them hurt Ellie, I know her…" I flinched when I heard my name.

The man was now shaking his head. "Man, you are fucked up in the head. You killed them to what? Save that…that girl." He pointed his gun towards me which caused Tommy to point his gun at him. He was older, maybe in mid fifties. The one standing next to him was younger, much younger, barely twenty years old. "What are we gonna tell the rest of 'em? Huh? That the walkers got 'em? They're not gonna believe that bullshit if we're the ones that come back."

"We don't go back. We stick together and go west. " Tommy said plainly.

"We've been on our own too long and we ain't goin' out with you." He shook his head repeatedly.

"Fine, you wanna go off on your own, be my guest." Tommy argued back.

"You doing this for that girl huh?" The older man pointed at me. "I won't hurt her…" He quickly shifted his gun in Glenn and Maggie's angle and shot. I closed my eyes for a moment. This could not be real. When I reopened them, I saw that Glenn was shot in the thigh. Shit. Maggie was now silently crying as she was putting pressure on the wound. "But he, I can hurt him."

Another shot went off. Daryl had shot the man in the head.

"No, no, no, no, no." The younger man dropped his weapon and was on the ground next to the fallen body tears filling his eyes.

Daryl looked bothered by what he had just done after seeing this man, now crying over the dead body.

"Buckley, I'm sorry." Tommy spoke up. Everyone looked towards Tommy now. He locked eyes with me. "Ellie, I did it to save you. They would have hurt you and your friend." He glanced over at Maggie before continuing. "And they would have made the men watch before killing them. They would have brought you back to the camp so the rest of the guys could get a chance to hurt you too. These guys were dangerous." He walked towards me and I stepped backwards and hit the tree. He leaned forward and tried to hug me, but I just stood there still in shock.

"Get the hell away from 'er." Daryl yelled at Tommy. He was angry and he had a gun pointed at Tommy. Not a second later, Tommy had a gun pointed at my head. Immediately, my hand went to my thigh where I had my knife.

"You wanna risk it?" He asked Daryl. "There's a nursing home, relatively nearby. It probably has medical supplies for your friend." Tommy told Maggie. "I'm sorry that he got caught in this. Buckley, let's get a move on. The walkers will be here soon…no doubt they heard the shots. Grab Ellie's bags over there and we can be on our way."

"Ya ain't takin' her anywhere." Daryl stepped closer to us. "She's with us."

"I've known her since college. I'll keep her safe. I can promise you that. She's safer with me than she is with you." Tommy told Daryl. Buckley followed Tommy's orders and grabbed my bags.

"She don't wanna be anywhere near ya. Can't ya tell?" Daryl asked.

This was going to turn ugly real soon. I doubt that Tommy would shoot me, but he would shoot Daryl if this kept going. I could pull my knife out, but I didn't want Tommy to die, even after what he did to Jake. What if Tommy shoots Daryl? I couldn't take that chance. "Don't I get a say?" I spoke up. "Daryl, you need to help Maggie get Glenn to the nursing home. I'll be okay with Tommy." I looked to Daryl with pleading eyes. "I'm so sorry. I am…I"

He shook his head, clearly upset. "No. I can't do that. You can't just leave, you just got here."

"It's hardly been a week since I've been with you guys; doubt any of you care that much. And…on the bright side, you'll have your room to yourself again and won't have to worry about me crying anymore…" I tried to crack a joke, but immediately regretted it as soon as I saw Daryl's reaction. He looked…hurt? To anyone else, he would have looked angry, but I saw that it was more than just that. He had been hurt by what I had said.

"Fine, go with that stupid bastard! I don't give a shit what ya do." He swung out his arms to show that he gave up.

Tommy pushed me in the direction of Buckley, who still looked incredibly distraught.

"Daryl! Daryl!" I yelled to get him to look at me, but he still wouldn't look at me. "I'm doin' this 'cause I don't want to cause any trouble. Okay?"

"Like I said…I don't give a shit, Bambi." He shouted at me, still avoiding my eyes.

"Well, thanks for everything guys. I'm sorry. I am truly sorry about what happened." I made eye contact with Glenn and Maggie. Daryl was helping Glenn get on his feet so he could help him walk.

"It wasn't your fault Ellie." Glenn told me. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Maggie can get the bullet out." Even when he was in pain, he was able to smile. Damn, Maggie was a lucky girl.

"Take care." That was all Maggie could say to me.

I glanced over at Daryl one last time and finally caught his eyes. I mouthed a sorry and he just gave me a simple nod.

Without giving it a second thought, I pulled out of Tommy's restraint and ran to them. I gave Glenn and Maggie a hug before turning to Daryl. He wasn't the kind of guy to give hugs, so I just gave his bicep a quick squeeze which made him flinch. Daryl wasn't more than a three or four inches taller than me, so I only had to tilt my head up to give him a peck of the cheek. He brushed the cheek that I had kissed, his face full of confusion. "I'll come find you guys when I can..." The look he gave me was even harder to read than usual.

"Come on Ellie. We gotta go now. The nursing home is about a mile or so in that direction. You'll hit a neighborhood first, but walk down a few streets and you'll find it. We were gonna head there tomorrow to get some medicine, but obviously that plan didn't work out, so you'll definitely find whatever you need." Tommy pulled me in the opposite direction. I couldn't help but glance back at the three of them walking in the direction of the nursing home that Tommy had just pointed out. Daryl looked back at the exact same time and gave me another nod.

* * *

Silence. I refused to answer any of Tommy's questions on the way back to the temporary campsite and instead allowed him to do all the talking. Apparently, Tommy's group had around thirty men and a few families too. Buckley was the one of the newest members, only having joined three weeks ago.

"We need to be out of these woods by the end of the week." Tommy informed us as he and Buckley put up one of the tents.

"In case Jonah sends out a group to find us?" Buckley asked.

"No. Jonah wouldn't do that. He wouldn't send out more men to look for us. It wouldn't be the first time he's just stranded men." Tommy shook his head. As Buckley went to get the remaining deflated tent to set up, Tommy stopped him. "There's no need. This tent can fit two, and someone's got watch for walkers at night, right? I can handle that tonight."

Buckley grabbed two cans of beans from the large pocket of his backpack and handed them to Tommy who began to open them. Buckley hardly said any words so far, but I got the sense that it was because he was upset over the man that Daryl had shot. Tommy apologized for his death more than once.

Buckley did not seem as bothered to be around Tommy as I was. I wonder why that is. If I really wanted to, I could probably shoot Tommy and get the hell out of here. But I can't do that, even after what he did to Jake.

After a completely silent dinner, Buckley headed into the tent giving Tommy a chance to talk to me.

"You know I had to do it, right? To save us. To save you!" Tommy moved closer to me. He was talking about Jake.

"You're sick. You know that?" I was not going to conceal my anger towards him anymore.

"There was no way we would have all made it out alive!" He defended his actions from that day.

"If you'd have let me, I could have distracted the walkers while you got Jake out of there. and I could have met up with you guys later," I argued.

"How? By getting them to chase you a few miles away? That was a stupid idea...you'd have gotten yourself killed that way. It wasn't worth the risk. Wouldn't have been worth it."

"But what? Shooting Jake in the head was? Letting him get eaten by those walkers was?" A few tears started to fall down my cheeks.

"Do you think I wanted to do that? To just kill my cousin? I did it to save us. Let's say we had made it out of there alive. What then? He got shot in the damn stomach. We had a first aid kit, that's it. How the fuck would we gotten that bullet out and stopped all that bleeding? Huh? Tell me?"

"We could have at least tried, we owed him that. If we couldn't have stopped the bleeding and he died, that's one thing. But you didn't even give him that chance. I didn't even get to say goodbye to him." I closed my eyes shook my head because I couldn't bear to even look at Tommy because all I keep seeing is the image of him shooting Jake.

After a minute of silence, I stood up and walked into the tent. I rested my arms on my knees and buried my face in them as I cried silently.

"Hey." A soft voice came from my right, from Buckley. He handed me a handkerchief which I used to wipe away my salty tears. "I'm sorry about your friend. Jake, was it?" He whispered so that Tommy would not be able to hear from outside. Of course Buckley overheard out conversation, we were barely five feet away.

"Yeah thanks." I was surprised by his friendly manner, not that I had expected him to be mean or anything. "I'm sorry about your friends that died today."

"I wouldn't really call them friends. The only one I really knew was Curtis. He was the only one left from my original group. Wasn't really a nice guy, not even before the outbreak…" He explained.

Buckley needed someone to talk to about Curtis, and I needed to get my mind off of Jake. "How did you know him? Curtis?"

"He lived in my neighborhood…Mostly kept to himself after his wife and daughter died years ago. Curtis was one of those crazy middle-aged men prepared for the end of the world. He thought the world would end in 2012, you know? Turns out he was a few years off." He faked a laugh.

"Were you at home at the time of the outbreak?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was. Our original group was just a few families from the neighborhood and some others we ran into along the way. There were about twenty of us at the start of the outbreak. By three months, it was down to four. The four of us made it for about nine months before we got separated and overrun. When Curtis and I went back to find the other two, it was too late." He laid his head on the pillow and lied down. I copied him, but let a foot of space between us.

"So how'd you run into Tommy?" I asked curiously.

"A few weeks ago, we were about to get eaten alive by these walkers, but these guys showed up out of nowhere. When they realized we weren't useless, they took us in… instead of just taking our supplies and leaving us to die. They seemed alright at first, but then I heard stories from a few of the guys about how they treated other survivors, especially the women. I wanted to run away, but Curtis didn't want to. He said that we wouldn't survive out there by ourselves for long, and sticking with them would be the only way we would survive. Tommy is really the only guy that I could stand there. He hated those guys too. We'd talked a few times about getting the hell out of there when we had a chance. Didn't think it would happen like this though…with Curtis dying." He shook his head. Buckley was still pretty traumatized by the events that took place earlier today. Truthfully, I was too.

"Glad I'm not alone though." I said. Buckley was a good guy.

"Me too." He whispered. "He'll come for you. You know that right?"

"Huh?" Who was he talking about?

"That Robin Hood guy…He seemed pissed that you didn't put up a bigger fight and said he didn't care…But he does. He'll come get you." Buckley reassured me.

"Daryl?" I nervous laughed. "I'm not so sure, I mean...I hope so. Hey, if he does, you can come with us."

"Trust me he'll come. I'd bet a ten on that, but seeing as we don't have any money…" He joked. "But I don't know, I'll think about it. Maybe I'll come. I'd feel bad if I ditched Tommy, you know..."

"How are you so sure Daryl would come anyway? It's barely been a week since I joined his group…"

"Robin Hood cares about you. I get guys like him. The quiet ones that act like they don't give a shit…I grew up with one of them…My best friend. That's how I know." He shifted around before facing the other way.

Clearly talking about his best friend had upset him. "Was he in your group?"

"Yeah. He was the one of the four." He signed. "The other was my older sister."

"I'm sorry." I said sympathetically.

* * *

After breakfast, Tommy followed me as I walked away from the campsite.

"Where are you going Ellie?" His voice was full of worry.

"To the fuckin' bathroom." I glared at him before I continued walking away.

"I…I just…I'm sorry. About last night. I didn't mean to upset you." He seemed nervous.

"A little late for that, don't you think? Should have thought about that a year ago…" I stopped walking and turned around with my arms crossed.

"Don't be like that…We have to survive together. Hard to do that if you hate me…" Tommy stepped closer to me.

"I was surviving fine with the group I was with...Now fuck off. I need to pee…" I argued with him.

After I returned to the campsite, Tommy and Buckley were packing everything away.

"Leavin' already?" I asked.

"Yeah. Get your stuff." Tommy ordered. When Tommy turned his back, Buckley stuck out his tongue at him and made sure I saw. We looked at each other and laughed silently.

* * *

Tommy sat next to me by the river as I watched the sunset. I pretended he wasn't next to me and continued to wash my clothes from earlier that were covered in walker blood and dirt. Buckley surprised me today when he took down walkers with no more than two swings with his baseball bat. Apparently before the outbreak, he was captain of his high school baseball team and a few weeks shy of graduating.

"Need any help?" Tommy asked.

"Nope." It was best to keep the conversation as brief as possible.

"When will you forgive me for what happened to Jake?" It was always like Tommy to get straight to the point.

"Probably never. He was one of my best friends." I replied.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you…I did it because I had to keep you safe!" He was annoyed with my answer.

"What about keepin' your cousin safe?" I scoffed. "Why?" I asked, even though deep down, I knew the reason.

"Why? 'Cause we've been good friends since freshman year. 'Cause I've…Cause…I've liked you since Spring Break of Junior year, and I've loved." Tommy was interrupted by Buckley.

"Beans alright for tonight guys?" Buckley had a can in each of his hand.

Tommy nodded and looked turned back to the water in front of us.

"Yeah. Sounds good." I said. I mouthed a thank you and he mouthed a welcome. "Lemme help you out Buckley." Thankfully, I had just finished washing my clothes which gave me the excuse to get out this situation. The last thing I needed right now was Tommy confessing his love for me.

* * *

Buckley was on watch duty tonight so I sat next to him by the small fire, keeping him company for an hour or so.

"Waiting for him to fall asleep?" He whispered in my ear. I nodded in reply. "Think he's out by now." He motioned for me to go sleep and I gave him a quick pat on the back before heading in.

Tommy was sleeping all the way on the other side of the tent, obviously trying to give me as much space as possible because he knew I didn't want to be near him.

When Buckley woke me up, Tommy was still asleep. "What? Need me to take over?" I yawned.

"No, but come here." He motioned for me to follow, and I did. "Sunrise." He pointed at the sky once we reached the river.

"You woke me up for this?" I laughed, but Buckley just shrugged.

"I'll take you up on your offer. When Robin Hood finds us, I wanna come too. I don't care that we'd have to ditch Tommy, I just...I want to stay in one place, you know?" Buckley spoke up after a long silence.

"Of course. You still think Daryl will come?" I asked because I was still in doubt.

"Told you. He likes you so he'll come." He rolled his eyes.

"I doubt he likes me…" I laughed and shook my head at him.

"Do you like him?" Buckley asked me directly.

"You serious?" I asked and he nodded in reply. "Umm…I…I..." A light blush made its way to my cheek and Buckley definitely noticed.

"You do." He chuckled. "Admit it, I'm great at all this girly talk…" Buckley smirked.

"Seems like you've had a lot of experience…"

"I had two older sisters so yeah I had a lot of experience. They'd always talk about boys, breakups, and all that other girly stuff around me."

We both started to laugh. "I was an only child but I was always jealous of kids with siblings…"

"Really? I used to wish I…" Buckley's smile disappeared from his face. I followed his gaze to see Tommy standing next to me. Of course. Buzz kill.

"Good morning guys!" Tommy said with fake enthusiasm. "Mind if I talk to you alone, Ellie?"

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders before joining Tommy on a walk.

"I didn't get to finish what I was saying yesterday." He started.

And that was a good thing. Please don't continue. "It's fine, we can just leave it alone." I fake smiled. It is way too early in the morning to have this conversation.

"No, I need to get this off my chest. I…I love you." His cheeks were as red a tomato. "I know you don't feel the same way, and I know I can't do anything to change it. I know it will only make things more awkward between us." He continued.

"If you know all this," I taunted him. "Then why tell me?" I asked with slight annoyance.

"Because I need you to know that it's because I love you, that I make certain calls."

"Like killing Jake?"

"Yeah. Ok? I couldn't let you do anything that puts you at risk. It's why I made you come with me this time because I'd feel safer knowing it was me protecting you. Any calls I make in the future, I need you to know I make them 'cause I love you. You don't need to feel the same way back. I just need you to understand, ok?"

"You don't need to protect me! That's not your job. I really don't care that you think you're in love with me. We both know that it will never happen between us..." I sighed.

"Is it because of that Daryl guy?" Tommy asked nervously.

"It has nothing to do with Daryl so don't bring him into this. Okay?" I began to walk away from Tommy to end the conversation.

"Wait…Can you promise me that you won't run away again?" He was practically begging me.

"No, if I run into someone I know from the other group, I'm leaving and taking Buckley with me." I quickened the pace of my step to avoid Tommy reaching up to me. After he killed Jake, we fought endlessly for three days. When I was supposed to keep watch at night, I packed my things and ran as far as my legs could carry me because it was better to be on my own then be with someone who sacrifices other people like that. Buckley better be right about Daryl coming back for us. I need him to be right about this.

"Okay, if that is what you really want..." He sighed and sat down next to a tree.

* * *

Tommy left on a hunting trip a few hours later because he knew we both needed some space after our earlier conversation. This left Buckley and I to spend the whole day together. Although neither of us had said it, I knew we were both thinking of just leaving before Tommy came back. We didn't have much food with us and neither Buckley or I were hunters. If we were to just take off, we'd need to take the last of the canned food with us, leaving Tommy with nothing. Let me put this the nicest way possible. Tommy's hunting and fishing skills were less than average. If we had taken everything we needed, we'd basically just be leaving Tommy for dead, and neither Buckley or I can have that on our conscious.

So Buckley and I did what we could do, which was swimming, fishing, and sleeping. Turns out neither of us could fish for our life, so we just had another can of beans for lunch. Curtis and Buckley's best friend, whose name I just found out was Owen, were the ones who hunted for his group when it was necessary. I spent most of my time running from town to town, trying to avoid the woods because of my lack of hunting skills.

Buckley is talkative, probably the most talkative person I'd come across since the outbreak. He can barely keep his mouth shut for a minute, which I decided wasn't really a bad thing unless there were walkers on our tails. There is no doubt in my mind that Buckley was quite the charmer in school before the outbreak. Somehow he got me talking about my first and last hunting trip, on which I'd run into Daryl. I really should have given it a second thought before telling him the story, because now he's making jokes about Daryl and I constantly.

The sun had just started to set by the time Tommy returned. His clothes were drenched in blood. Tommy looked bad, really bad. Gosh, was he limping?

"Oh my god. What happened?" I asked because I was scared that he might have been bit.

"Walkers. Lots of them." He was out of breath. "We're leaving in a few hours, can't wait 'til morning." Tommy removed his shirt and threw it to Buckley who ran to the river to wash away the blood. I noticed that he had a nasty cuts and bruises on his chest. There was one gash that stuck out because it was really deep. These injuries didn't look like they were from a walker, but he was in desperate need of stitches.

"I got this." Buckley handed me the bloody clothes and ran to the tent.

"What's he doing?" I asked Tommy.

"His mom was a doctor. I think he said something about wanting to be a doctor before," Tommy said as he groaned in pain. We needed antibiotics to make sure that it didn't get infected. As he shifted away to his side to be in a more comfortable position, I saw that the cuts and bruises were covering his arms as well. If Buckley and I had left, Tommy wouldn't have made it more than a day. He might be able to knock down a walker or two, but anymore than four of them in a group and he wouldn't have a fighting chance.

"So how was the hunt?" I asked trying to get his mind off the pain.

"Caught a rabbit, but had to throw it to the walkers. There was a herd and I knew I wasn't gonna get away so I had to throw it. I hid in a tree but the branch couldn't carry my weight and I fell from a decent height and yeah…Got this bad boy." He explained. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Buckley running over to us with a first aid kit and a few other medical supplies.

"How close are these walkers?" Buckley questioned him as he took out some bandages.

"Way too close. If I wasn't dripping blood, I'd say leave now. But we could probably spare a few hours…" Tommy explained.

* * *

"This is the best I can do with what we have, man…" Buckley spoke softly. "The meds aren't that strong so you'll still be in a lot of pain, and it'll only get worse in a few hours when they wear off. All you can do is sleep for now."

Buckley left the tent and sat outside with me, his face full of worry.

"I have a really bad feeling about this. He ran into a herd somewhere nearby. What do you say? Maybe a half hour before it gets too dark?" I ask Buckley.

"You wanna go out now? I can go…" He volunteered.

"No, it's better if you stay here in case he needs anything. I'm a great climber, anything goes wrong, I can just wait it out in a tree or something. I'll just go out and check if there's any sign of a herd close by. If I'm not back in an hour, get the hell out of here. I know he isn't really in a good shape now, but do your best, alright?" I explained.

"Take care. I'll start packing all of our bags. Take your bag with you…in case we get separated." He stood up with me.

"Buckley, I'm not just gonna ditch you and run. I'll take my stuff but don't think I'm just gonna run off without you." I sighed. The last thing I wanted to do was leave Buckley alone.

"I know." He smiled and gave me a quick hug.

* * *

The backpack I was carrying over my shoulders felt heavy, but only when I took the time to notice it. It had been a little over twenty minutes since I had left the campsite. So far I had only run into two strays. In five minutes, I should start heading back to the campsite.

Before heading back, I decided to shine my flashlight to check if there were any walkers in the distance. There was a good size flashlight in the side pocket of the backpack so I grabbed it and turned it on.

What was that? Please don't be walkers. I squinted my eyes as I walked several steps forward. "Shit. Shit. Shit." I swore under my breath. I quickly turned off my flashlight and scrambled to put it back in the side pocket of my backpack. There were a lot of them. How many? I couldn't even take a guess, but definitely more than Buckley and I can handle, especially since Tommy wouldn't be much help.

I took a few steps backwards even more cautious than usual over the sound of my footsteps. Before I knew it, I was pulled back by the collar of my shirt with a hand over my mouth. I was spun around and pushed against a tree with the other hand. I barely had time to react before the person stepped close to me, so close that our chests were touching. It was a man, most definitely. My hands scrambled to my thigh to grab my knife but then he moved both his hands to grip my wrists tightly. What. The. Fuck. I tried to struggle away from the asshole that ambushed me, but was unsuccessful.

"Bambi! Quit it." A voice whispered in my ear.

"Daryl?" His name barely escaped before his hand was on my mouth again. He came back? Buckley was right. The sound of distant footsteps let me know that the walkers were moving in our direction, though I am sure they are still unaware of the presence of Daryl and I. Even with the walkers near, I couldn't help but smile knowing that Daryl had found me.

Daryl still hadn't moved away for me. I knew it was because he hadn't realized how close we were. He was probably too focused on figuring out how to get out of here. Knowing this was the only chance I'd get, I planted a kiss on his cheek. Immediately, he flinched and took a step back. "The hell was that for Bambi?" He muttered.

"Not every day I get saved by a cute guy," I joked before taking a few steps past him. He was still standing in the same spot like he was frozen, so I nudged him to get him to follow me in the direction back to the camp. It took me a few minutes for it to fully register in my head that I had just hit on Daryl. Thank god it was dark outside so he couldn't see me blushing like an idiot. Of course this would happen to me. There's a herd of walkers relatively close by, and all I'm thinking about is how glad I am that Daryl can't see me blushing.

* * *

Hopefully, you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please give me feedback on what you think of the chapter or any characters. I didn't plan on it originally, but Buckley is going to stick around. Should I try pairing him up with Beth? Anyway, the more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to continue this story and update faster. So review!


	5. Chapter 5

Don't own TWD, only my OCs.

Thanks for all the reviews. I love the support.

* * *

Daryl kept a lookout as I walked over to Buckley and Tommy. We knew the walkers were still headed in our direction. It was only a matter of time. Buckley saw me as soon as I came into sight. The tent had been taken down and everything was already packed away into bags. Tommy was sitting on a log with a hand over his bandage. How the fuck would we get him out?

Buckley's facial expressions told me he was quite worried. "They're close aren't they?"

"Yeah, we need to get the hell outta here now." I ordered. "Grab your bags. We're following Daryl. He says we could probably make it to the highway if we leave now. We just need to get out of these woods."

"Daryl?" Buckley scanned the area until he him. "Is it a bad time to say…I told you so?"

"Yeah, actually it is." I rolled my eyes, but I'm sure that Buckley didn't notice.

"What are we waiting for?" Tommy sounded fearful.

"You?" I motioned for him to stand up and walk over to us.

"Buckley, I'll carry these two bags along with mine. You…can handle Tommy." I walked past Buckley and grabbed the remaining bags. Tommy had placed a backpack on his shoulders and rushed to Tommy's side to help him move faster.

"You trust that son of a bitch?" Daryl whispered in my ear when I made my way to him. He glared at Tommy.

"I can't just leave him, even though I can't stand him." I answered. Daryl seemed somewhat satisfied with the answer and just nodded.

Daryl motioned for Buckley and Tommy to follow him.

* * *

I have no idea how Daryl was able to navigate like this, especially when the only light was from the cloudy, night sky. Flashlights were useless at this point because we didn't want to attract any attention from the walkers close by. So far, we had only run into a few strays, but there were bound to be more close by.

My thoughts were clouding my mind and I didn't realize that Daryl had stopped walking until I bumped into his back. He put his left arm out as a signal for us to stop. Within a few moments, I heard them. The herd of walkers.

Daryl motioned for us to back up and we followed. Afterwards, Daryl pointed to the left. I led the way this time while Daryl kept an eye out for the walkers, making sure we hadn't been spotted yet.

Finally Daryl caught up to me and pulled me closer to him by my elbow. He brought his mouth close to my ear and whispered. "I spotted a cabin or somethin' earlier close to here. Jus' keep walkin' in this direction and ya gonna find it."

"Where are you goin'?" I asked curiously.

His lips brushed my ear as he leaned closer. "Gonna see if I can distract 'em or somethin'…" He said with a sigh at the end.

"And how are you planning on doin' that?" I dropped one of the bags down and faced him. I could feel Buckley and Tommy's eyes on me. Daryl, on the other hand, was looking back in the direction we had just come from.

"I'll figure somethin' out." He muttered before turning his head forward again.

"No." I said as I shook my head. From his reaction, I could tell he was thrown off my response. "I can do it. I'll see if I can run around them, maybe throw a few rocks from a tree or something to get their attention. You go in the opposite direction, far from here, and shoot a few bullets and run back to the cabin. They'll split into two groups, right? Most of them will go towards the sound of the gunshots, but a smaller group will stick around me. If I'm high up in a tree, they can't get me. I still have my silencer and the new ammo from the police station, so I could shoot the ones near me. Then meet you guys at the cabin."

"That's a stupid idea." Tommy said immediately after I finished talking. I hadn't even realized that I stopped whispering.

"I could do it instead of you Ellie." Buckley offered. Did he not think I was capable? He must have noticed my annoyance at his statement. "I…I mean if you don't wanna go…" He corrected his statement.

Daryl didn't say anything yet. It seemed like he was really thinking about it. "We don't have time. Fuck this." I muttered as I began to jog in the direction of the walkers.

Daryl caught up to me pretty quickly. "Hey!" He dug into his back pocket and took out a light-colored handkerchief. "Hang it 'round a tree or somethin'. Make it easier to find ya if ya in trouble. Can't track ya in the dark…" Daryl handed it over to me.

I nodded my head. "So that's how you found us? You used our tracks?"

"Yeah, now go on…And, don't do anythin' stupid to get ya self killed." He instructed me in a serious tone.

"Wasn't planning on it." I patted his shoulder before I continued on my way.

* * *

It didn't take very long for me to run into some walkers. I used my hatchet to knock a few to the ground. Here in the woods, they had a little more room, so they were spread out. This gave me the advantage because I didn't have to take on more than a pair of walkers at once.

It took a while, but I finally reached the largest group of walkers. There had to be at least fifty of them. I searched around for a tree with sturdy branches. The walkers had spotted me and were making their way towards me. As I started running, I glanced around my surroundings to spot a decent tree. The one in front of me wasn't perfect but it'll have to do. The groans of the walkers were getting louder and I knew I didn't have time to keep running so I took in a deep breath and started climbing. Once I got more than halfway up the tree, I seated myself on a sturdy branch and pulled out the gun. My aim wouldn't be so great in the dark so I needed to use my flashlight, as much as I hated doing so. I placed the end of the flashlight in my mouth and dipped my head down so the light was shining on the walkers down below. Their hands were waving in the air in failed attempts of reaching me. With the silencer on the gun, I began shooting at the walkers' heads. One by one, I took them out, but as one fell to the ground, another would take its place. The tree was shaking lightly from all the walkers trying to get at me.

Come on Daryl. It's your turn. As if on signal, I heard the loud gunshot. It was followed by a few more. Daryl was probably on his way to the cabin now. Some of the walkers began to limp away in the direction of the gunfire. Okay, so more of them stayed with me than I had originally anticipated. This is great. Just great. I continued to shoot down at the walkers. Hey, at least the group below wasn't growing in size anymore.

* * *

After I made my way down the tree, I landed on a pile of walkers. I shivered in disgust. When a few walkers came up behind me, I swing my hatchet at them. Guess I missed a few of them from the tree. I took off in a dash, in the way I assumed was where the cabin was. It was hard to tell in the dark.

There were a few bodies that I almost tripped over as I approached the cabin. Buckley barged out of the door with his baseball bat in hand.

"It's me." I sighed. Buckley took a couple of steps forward before he swung his bat. "What the fuck?" I ducked my head as the bat hit something hard. A quick glance behind me gave me all the information I needed. Buckley took down a walker that was inches away from me.

"You're welcome." Buckley grinned as he pulled me into a hug.

"Umm…Thanks." I whispered before letting go. "Yeah, we can't risk staying here much longer. We need to get the hell out of here soon…" My eyes searched for Daryl. Maybe he's just inside with Tommy then. I walked behind Buckley and entered the cabin. The first thing I noticed was the stench. My hand immediately covered my nose. The second thing I noticed was that Daryl was absent. "Daryl?"

"He's not with you Ellie?" Tommy asked me. He was sitting on a rocking chair.

"We heard the gunshots a while back. Thought he'd be here by now. Must have run into some walkers." Buckley explained. "But it's nothing he can't handle." He said to reassure me.

"Do we really have the time to wait? We need to get out of here now." Tommy stood up from his chair slowly using a nearby table to keep balance.

"And what leave Daryl behind?" I asked angrily.

"We have no choice. Not if we want to live." Tommy argued.

"If it wasn't for him, I'm not sure all of us would even made it to this cabin." Buckley explained to Tommy in a calm voice trying to end an argument before it even began.

"We leave a few supplies behind and write a note. He'll know we're safe and he can go back to his people." Tommy ordered.

"Fuck no." I walked over to him and pushed him back down into the rocking chair. "I'm goin' out to find him. If you wanna leave, then be my guest."

"Take more ammo." Buckley handed some to me. "If you two run into more trouble, don't come back. Okay?"

"I'm not leaving you alone with that asshole." I pointed at Tommy, who unsurprisingly frowned at my statement.

"Ellie…" Tommy said my name.

"Fuck off." I left the cabin without looking behind me.

* * *

Where was Daryl? I had run into several walkers, but there was no sign of him. There were walkers on the ground that had been taken down by arrows. I took the time to make sure. A few had been knifed, but most had a hole in their skulls. Though I hadn't seen any arrows yet, I knew that this was the work of Daryl. So he must be close by. The best way to search for Daryl is to follow the bodies. Even though I hated it, I needed to pull out my flashlight. It did grab the attention of a few walkers, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

There were three walkers lying on the ground in front of me. I walked around the bodies careful not to make too much noise because I spotted a few stray walkers ahead. A hand grabbed my right calf, surprising me. I kicked the hand away and then kicked its chest.

I heard it groan in pain and mutter a few words. Wait, walkers didn't do that. I shined my flashlight to get a better look. Daryl. "Get that light outta my face Bambi!" His hand covered his eyes from the light.

"Sorry, but what the hell happened to you?" Daryl was covered in dirt and mud. He also was sitting on the ground with his back against a tree.

"Shit happened." He grumbled.

I held out my hand and he took it and I helped him stand up as he winced in pain. I handed him my water bottle as well and watched as he gulped down about half of it.

"What's that?" I questioned. There was blood on his shoulder and his back mixed in the thin layer of mud.

"Ain't that bad, just a lil' scratch." After he saw my reaction of worry and fear, he explained. "Not from a walker." He shook his head as he took a few steps forward.

"So little that you can't even carry your crossbow on your right shoulder?" I asked while stepping behind him to inspect his injury. When I used my flashlight to get a better look, I noticed that his shirt was ripped and underneath was a nasty cut. "That doesn't look good, at all…"

"It's fine Bambi." Daryl pushed my hand away from his shoulder tried to take a few steps.

"You're limping too?" I sighed.

"Jus' a lil' bump on my knee." He muttered before continuing to walk.

The walkers were a few feet away from us. "I got this." I kicked one of the walkers to the ground and when it fell, it brought the one behind, with it. This made it easier for me to bash their heads in. "Let's go." I grabbed his arm and dragged him a few steps before letting go of his arm.

When we reached the cabin, it was clear that Buckley and Tommy had run into more walkers. There were more bodies piled up outside the cabin. Buckley opened the door before I even had a chance to knock.

"Great. You're both here. Hang on." Buckley spun around retreated back into the cabin. He returned with his backpack and Tommy. "Let's go. No walkers have come from that direction." Buckley took the lead.

Tommy wasn't the only one that was struggling to keep up with the pace set by Buckley. Daryl was falling behind too. I had offered to help him walk faster by letting him put an arm over my shoulder, but he refused my help. The longer we walked, the harder it was for him to keep up with us. Buckley was practically carrying Tommy at this point. No doubt about it, for a nineteen year old, he was pretty damn strong.

I threw my arm out to stop Daryl for a moment to speak to him. "Come on. Give me your arm." Daryl stepped back away from me. "Okay Daryl, you're starting to piss me off…" I hissed. "Would you rather I carry you bridal style?"

"Like ya could even do that…" He chuckled.

"Fine. Then I'll just drag you." My arms were on my hip.

"Why ya so worked up Bambi?"

"Boy, ya as slow as a turtle…" I imitated him. It was what he said to me the first night we had night watch duty together.

Although Daryl shook his head, there was a small smile on his face which told me that he remembered. He put his arm over my shoulder, finally accepting my help.

"You're slowing us down." Tommy said annoyingly. Like he we was one to talk. I rolled my eyes.

"Put a sock in it." Daryl replied, earning a soft chuckle from Buckley and me.

* * *

"Oh God." Buckley's voice broke the silence. "Turn back." He whispered. He didn't have to say anything else; I knew that must be a herd of walkers ahead.

We all followed Buckley's directions. Within a few minutes, we were forced to hide behind a tree. All of us clearly saw the scene in front of us. It was another large group of walkers. We couldn't go forward or backward. It was like they were closing in on us. Maybe if Daryl and Tommy weren't injured, we may have had a fighting chance. Not that I blame either of them, I don't. Okay, so that isn't a hundred percent true. I can't help but partially blame Tommy. If he had just me leave with Daryl, Maggie, and Glenn, none of us would be in this position. However, if he hadn't, I wouldn't have met Buckley. More than anything, I feel bad that Daryl was here though. He came back to the woods to find me. To take me back to his group. Daryl was caught in this mess because of his good intentions.

"How long 'til they find us?" Buckley whispered in a voice full of fright. It was something that had to be on all our minds.

"Hang on…" I spoke softly before stepping away from the group.

"Ellie?" Tommy called out to me.

There were a few walkers that were a little too close. If these spotted us, then the rest of the group would follow. I crouched down by a tree and when they walked by I quietly took them out. After I returned to the others, Tommy looked like he was about to throw a fit.

"Don't even start Tommy." I hissed. Tommy was consistently underestimating me.

"Guys look." Buckley pointed to direction in which there were only a few walkers, which we could easily take out. "If we run now, we might have a chance."

"Yeah, but look over there, those walkers are definitely gonna spot us." I pointed out.

"Better than just sittin' on our asses." Daryl grumbled.

"Okay fine. Let's go two at a time." I instructed. "Daryl and I'll go first 'cause I'm faster. If we run into any trouble, Daryl has a better chance against the walkers than Tommy anyway."

"And we'll follow you in a minute or two?" Buckley asked for clarification. I nodded my head.

I helped Daryl put his arm around my shoulder and we took off in a light jog. When we approached a few walkers, I let him go so we could both take out them out. Daryl motioned for Buckley and Tommy to follow us before reaching out for me again. We barely made it ten feet before running into more walkers.

"We got this Bambi" Daryl gave me a smirk before he stabbed the last remaining walker.

Looking ahead, I saw the herd approaching us. Daryl was facing the opposite direction. My hand tugged on Daryl's arm so he would move around and see what was lying ahead.

"Oh God, we're screwed." Buckley's voice came from behind us. Guess, he just saw it too. "You know I'm surprised I lasted this long anyway. Any last words guys?" Buckley's voice was trembling.

"Shut up kid. Ya ain't dyin' today." Daryl sounded pissed.

"We fight, 'til we can't anymore." I let out a sigh as I ran ahead towards the walkers. One. Two. Three. I found a rhythm. Eight. Nine. Ten. This was the end. I knew it. There was no way out of here. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Tears were stinging my eyes. I didn't even want to look back at the others.

Tommy. He used to be the sweet guy, the kind that a lot of girls hope to meet someday. I figured out a while ago that he liked me, but I never felt the same way about him. Maybe I should have said something when we were still in school, instead of ignoring it. I just didn't want to lost him as a friend, but I was being selfish. I realize that now.

Buckley. He is supposed to be in college now, a star player on the baseball team. The biggest worries should be about getting into medical school, not about dying. Buckley should have hated me because Curtis would still be alive if they hadn't run into me, but he didn't. If I ever had a brother, I'd want him to be like Buckley.

Then there was Daryl. The "cute" guy that didn't laugh in my face when I cried over a deer that my grandfather shot. He pretends not to care, but deep down he does, probably more than others. I think back to when Buckley asked me if I liked him. Do I? I don't know. Sure, I'd met him before, but it's not like I know him that well. What do I even know about him? Not much.

Was is just physical attraction then? I mean, he's got those striking blue eyes. The ones I couldn't look away from a few days ago. And don't get me started on those arms. I wish Daryl was the hugging type so I could have had a chance to be wrapped in his arms. I can't forget that smile and laugh of his that was so rare. Okay, so it was just pure physical attraction. It had to be. Right? But then again, I can't help but feel safe when I sleep near him. And that ridiculous nickname he gave me. Bambi. Strangely, I don't mind. It's like an inside joke of ours. He's just a friend that I happen to find "cute."

"Bambi!" A voice interrupted my thoughts. Of course it was Daryl. For a moment there, I forgot about how I was about to die. I was fighting the walkers limping towards me without even thinking about it. My mind had been in a totally different world.

"Yeah." I acknowledged to Daryl that I had heard him.

"C'mon girl."

I retreated back to where the rest of them were. Walkers were closing in. Climbing a tree would be useless now. None of the trees here had any sturdy branches high enough so the walkers couldn't grab at our feet.

Tommy was the first one to speak up. The rest of us were out of breath. "Most of the walkers are coming from there. Not as many are coming from over there…" Tommy pointed out.

"We would barely make it fifty feet before the walkers change direction and follow us. We're screwed either way." Buckley argued.

"Shit." I said under my breath as I walked a few feet away to take care of a few walkers. My arms were killing me at this point from using the hatchet. How much longer could I keep this up? I needed to save my ammo until the last possible minute so I couldn't switch over to my gun.

"It's not like we have a choice, we can at least give it a try." Tommy answered back.

"Better than sittin' here like ducks." Daryl agreed with Tommy.

"Okay, what are we waitin' for then." I jogged back to the guys and grabbed Daryl's arm and swung it over my shoulder. "Let's go guys."

We made it about twenty feet before I had to let go of Daryl to knock down the walkers coming in our way.

"Tommy?" Buckley cried out in fear. I swung my head around just in time to see Buckley being pushed to the ground by Tommy. "Don't!"

What was going on? My question was answered a few seconds away. Tommy was making his way to the walkers chasing us. He was sacrificing himself.

"What? No!" I yelled out.

Tommy turned around to face us and just stood there. "Ellie, I'm sorry for what happened with Jake. I…I deserve this… I'm doing this to save you." He was crying now as he brought his gun to his head. "I'm sorry." Those were his last words.

I closed my eyes because I didn't want to remember this. I flinched when I heard the gunshot.

Someone's hands tugged on my shoulders in an attempt to get me to move my feet. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes is Daryl's concerned face. "C'mon." He said in a soft voice. "We gotta go."

* * *

Reviews are the best. They keep me motivated to continue the story. Let me know if you guys like the ending with Tommy sacrificing himself. Anyway, please leave reviews!


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